“Women must show their strength and successfully confront injustice: Women should not hide their strengths in an effort to be acceptable.”
By Nadine Bushell, Member of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
For many of us Social Justice focusses on issues that are dealt with at the community, national or international level. We think of issues like human rights, poverty and human trafficking. We think we must do big things and act in a collective way to address social justice issues. However, as individuals in our daily interactions with others we can apply social justice principles or make a difference in the lives of others that impact on social justice in a meaningful way. Many of the men and women of the bible have done this in their own way. Today we will look at Abigail (1 Samuel 25).
Abigail was married to Nabal a wealthy rancher. David and his followers who had been camped near Nabal’s lands, did not raid Nabal’s flocks, but rather helped his shepherds protect the sheep. When sheep shearing time arrived, David sent some of his men to Nabal asking for appropriate remuneration. Nabal refused and insulted David. David became furious and planned to wipe out Nabal and his whole household. When David’s herdsmen heard of this, they became terrified of what David might do; in order to intercept David, the men went to Abigail.
Abigail ran to David, bowed before him an indicated that Nabal her husband was wrong. She sided with David. She agreed that the way David had been treated was wrong. Abigail dealt with the personal affront that angered David by acknowledging that David was right. She even went so far as to say that she herself had not known of the request, but saw herself as a failure because she was unable to respond to it. Abigail also brought David food. She showed here that her words were backed with action. She attempted to fulfil their request.
While acknowledging David’s right to be angry, Abigail highlighted to David her positive view of his character and cautioned him about taking revenge as it went contrary to his way of fighting battles of the Lord. Abigail appealed to David to identify with those he had intended to kill. Abigail reminded David of how Saul treated him. Saul had tried to kill him when he became jealous of him. Nabal might have deserved to die, but what about the other men. Abigail reminded David of his own values: unnecessary bloodshed was wrong; he would be going against God’s commandment against murder. She also highlighted that killing Nabal would have been politically unwise since David should look ahead to when the Lord would make him ruler of Israel. He would not want this issue to alienate him from one of the tribes of Israel.
David responded to Abigail: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand!” (1 Samuel 25: 32:33).
Abigail turned out to be God’s messenger to David and a counsellor.
What can we learn from Abigail? She was wise, decisive and yet sensitive. She displayed great interpersonal skills; she diffused David’s anger and enabled him to think through the consequences of his proposed actions. She enabled him to retain his self-respect and respect of his men. Abigail was astute enough to figure out David’s complexity and she shaped her appeal to David’s political goal of being the leader of Israel and to his moral commitments. She helped him to choose to act out of those basic values. Importantly also was that Abigail was approachable. Persons in her household felt comfortable enough to go to her and further were convinced of her dependability and her abilities.
Note also that when Abigail’s husband died, David married her. He was impressed by her independence, her skills and abilities.
Abigail’s story with David highlights for us, particularly women, the need to confront important situations in our lives. We must take the personal risk that Abigail took by going to David. We must be astute in our approach and assess the situation, seeking God’s guidance, of course. Many situations of injustice demand an approach such as Abigail’s. Abigail provides us with a pattern for successful confrontation. We must also not lose the example of the healthy interaction between men and women. Abigail offered David advice, but in a wise and gracious way. David did not let his ego deter him from heeding what she said.
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